October 2009: Then Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro met with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus
In its last meeting, the UN Human Rights Council voted to extend the probe of the ongoing Syrian civil war until next year.
The resolution was approved by 41 votes to 1, with five countries abstaining: Ecuador, India, Kazakhstan, Philippines and Uganda.
The only vote against continuing the HRC’s investigation (led by Brazilian diplomat Paulo Pinheiro) came from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
To justify its vote, the Venezuelan delegation insisted that there’s a “…continued and sustained international media campaign destined to demonize the efforts of the Syrian government, based on manipulating the information about what happens in Syria…”.
What else did you expect? That seat in Geneva isn’t about protecting human rights, it’s about having the back of “allies” like Syria and North Korea (which we also helped during the same meeting). Maduro’s foreign policy will be just like Chavez’s. After all, his previous job was all about implementing it.
Caracas Chronicles 
Batsh*t Insane. Proudly pushing the envelope for Venezuela since 1999. Unfortunately for Hugo, his mentor Fidel Castro holds the all-time and unrivaled record for Latin America, actually calling for the Soviets to strike first in 1962, and not with hot air but with nuclear missiles on Cuba.
At least they cannot boast of being insaner than the Dear Dead Departed Supreme Commander. He put the bar at infinity with his support for the Iranian Theocracy and Ahmadinejad’s totally peaceful atomic efforts which combine nicely with the eradication of Israel, and Goofy Gaddafi’s efforts at pacifying his people, which ended… they shall be meeting right now, poor Hugo, Muammar can boast always of being the weirder one by any measure, and complain that all the help Hugo sent was hot air.
Anyhow, they can still send the tanks halfway to the frontier (won’t go further) in case the Colombians off another Guerrilla Leader.
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When Ronald Regan was set to win, Fidel asked the Soviets to again base nukes in Cuba. Fidel certainly believed in regime survival via nukes. On another note, Fidel never had a problem killing anyone and some of his known hits are legendary. The Venezuelans will probably borrow from the Cubans here. That’s how they get everyone to tow the line. They have been doing it for years: flamethrowers, pushed off buildings, assasinations, etc. There is probably more going on behind the scenes and that’s why I say they stay.
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I don’t think Maduro (nor Chavez during his lifetime) understands these Middle East very well. They see these countries through the lens of “anti-imperialism” and therefore, assumes that they have to be faithful allies against the West. Additionally, the fact that Syria was once committed to socialism contributes to the surface understanding Venezuela has towards Syria. I’m sure Maduro just views this as another imperial game, failing to realize the historical context on how Assad’s family begot the seeds that is leading to its undoing. But I’m sure that Syria being a police state that is now run by oligarchs rather than socialists who once hosted CIA torture centers and quelled a Palestinian insurgency in Lebanon would all be hogwash to Maduro.
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I’m not so sure. Maduro and wife have been groomed and preparing for this gig for years. A decade it seems.
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I agree he may not understand how you say but that is irrelevant. Maduro as Foreign Minister got his creed.
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I really like Caracas Chronicles but why doesn’t Gustavo stick to covering National events because he hasn’t got a clue about Geopolitics. Iran never threatened to wipe Israel off the face of the map and Gaddafi was uniting Africa.
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It’s true that Ahmadinejad never said he’d “wipe Israel off the map,” because such phrasing doesn’t exist in Farsi, but he did say that he wished Israel would “disappear” and that it’s regime “collapse.” And if you genuinely think that Qadhafi was uniting Africa, then you are one naïve person with a surface understanding of Qadhafi, Libya & Africa. Qadhafi was more of an opportunist than anything.
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Yeah, Qaddafi was uniting Africa by supporting insurgents whose goal was to cleanse the Sahel of black Africans. What a great guy. Anyway, even if he was a great guy for Africa it is the decision of Libyans who their leader is, not Africa in general.
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We have a Poe’s Law situation here people – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law
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Good, wasn’t sure if I was the only one sensing a bit of extreme dry sarcasm here. Or maybe that’s wishful thinking on my part.
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“informacion muchas veces desde fuentes poco fiable…”
Where does El Bigote del Pueblo get his reliable information on Syria? Why would the Imperio not just asssassinate Assad by implanting cancer in him, like it did Chavez?
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So basically we’re defending the guys even Russia wants to *Chusma Chusma prrrrrrrrrrrrrr* shove away.
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